Factors Influencing Consumer Behaviour of TV Viewer Respondents in Indore, India to Selected Convenience Products

Television is a very influential media for delivering information. Television advertising is the best viewed and economical media ever invented. It has a possible advertising impact matchless by any other media (Saxena, 2005). Hence, it is necessary that research studies on the factors influencing consumer behavior towards television advertisements should be undertaken to understand their mindset in a better way and generate more reliable data with particular attention to product/service specific, region specific, group-specific, demographic variable specific and occasion specific studies. This study aims to identify the factors influencing the consumer behavior towards selected convenience products on the basis of frequently viewed television advertisements. A sample of 400 users selected randomly was studied. Standardized questionnaires were used to collect the data. The data were treated statistically using Principal Component Method of Factor Analysis and correlation. The analysis revealed that TV advertisements have significant impact upon the attitude of consumers towards selected convenience products. Eight major factors were found to be influential in determining the attitude of consumers towards TV advertisements. These factors were purchase motivating, value addition, positive recollection, credibility, efficacy, significance, influential, persuasive. The results suggest that TV advertisements provide much reliable information to the consumers about the products and also influence them in purchasing the product. The findings of the study will be helpful for the manufacturer/service providers, ad agencies and the research scholars for the designing of effective television advertisement

Design Analysis and Implementation of Stock Market Forecasting System using Improved Soft Computing Technique

In this paper, a stock market prediction model was created utilizing artificial neural networks. Many people nowadays are attempting to predict future trends in bonds, currencies, equities, and stock markets. It is quite challenging for a capitalist and an industry to forecast changes in stock market prices. Due to the numerous economic, political, and psychological aspects at play, forecasting future value changes on the stock markets is quite challenging. In addition, stock market forecasting is a difficult endeavor because it relies on a wide range of known and unknown variables. Many approaches, including technical analysis, fundamental analysis, time series analysis, and statistical analysis are used to attempt to predict the share price; however, none of these methods has been demonstrated to be a consistently effective prediction tool. Artificial neural networks (ANNs), a subfield of artificial intelligence, are one of the most modern and promising methods for resolving financial issues, such as categorizing corporate bonds and anticipating stock market indexes and bankruptcy (AI). Artificial neural networks (ANN) are a prominent technology used to forecast the future of the stock market. In order to understand financial time series, it is often essential to extract relevant information from enormous data sets using artificial neural networks. An outcome prediction neural network with three layers is trained using the back propagation method. Analysis shows that ANN outperforms every other prediction technique now available to academics in terms of stock market price predictions. It is concluded that ANN is a useful technique for predicting stock market movements globally

Clinical profile and outcome of Hantavirus infection with renal involvement in India

Background:Hantavirus infections are found all over world but there is paucity of information about clinical features of Hantavirus infection in India.Aim of current study was to study clinical profile and outcome of patients with Hantavirus infection and renal insufficiency who presented at our institute.Methods:All patients who were admitted in department of medicine with Hantavirus infection and renal insufficiency were included. Their basic demographic profile with relevant laboratory investigations was recorded. They were diagnosed with Hantavirus infection if they had positive IgM antibodies by ELISA test.Results:There were seven patients with mean age of 54 years. They had mean serum creatinine level of 4.37 ± 1.86 mg%. All had thrombocytopenia and hepatic dysfunction as well. Five patients had hypotension. There was need of dialysis in three patients. They also had hypoalbuminemia. No patient had features suggestive of acute respiratory distress syndrome. All patients had recovery of renal function and there was no mortality.Conclusion:Patients with Hantavirus infection presented like hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome. Their outcome is good. We need to suspect Hantavirus infection in appropriate clinical scenario in India.

Antihypertensive drug utilization pattern and awareness in diabetic hypertensive patients at tertiary care centre

Background: Patients with diabetes has 2 fold higher chances of suffering from hypertension. Hypertension is risk factor for development of diabetes as well for complications like nephropathy, CAD and neuropathy etc. Hypertension control is vital to prevent and retard progression of microvascular and macrovascular complications. Therefore, we undertook this study to evaluate treatment patterns in diabetic patients with hypertension, those are being followed at our institute.Methods: Study group comprised of diabetic patients who had hypertension as well. All patients with diabetes reporting to medicine OPD from March 2014 to September 2014 at our institute were screened. Patients with follow up of at least 3 months and age more than 18 years of either sex were included.Results: There were 223 patients. Study group comprised of 121 males and 102 females. Mean age of group was 48.6 years. One hundred three patients (46.18%) were on monotherapy and remaining 120 patients were on combination antihypertensive drugs. There were total 398 antihypertensive drug exposures. Patient needed mean antihypertensive drug of 1.78. Angiotensin receptor blockers were the most commonly prescribed drugs. Angiotensin inhibitors (angiotensin receptor blockers and ACE inhibitors) were utilized in 158 (71%) patients. Hypertension control was achieved in 84 (37.66%) patients. One hundred eighty one patients (81.2%) knew about disease.Conclusion: Our study showed that majority of diabetic hypertensive patients needed multiple drug therapy to control hypertension. Most of the patients were on ARBs/ACE inhibitors. This was according to recommendation by ADA or JNC8.

Global, regional, and national mortality due to unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning, 2000–2021: results from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

Background Unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning is a largely preventable cause of death that has received insufficient attention. We aimed to conduct a comprehensive global analysis of the demographic, temporal, and geographical patterns of fatal unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning from 2000 to 2021. Methods As part of the latest Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD), unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning mortality was quantified using the GBD cause of death ensemble modelling strategy. Vital registration data and covariates with an epidemiological link to unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning informed the estimates of death counts and mortality rates for all locations, sexes, ages, and years included in the GBD. Years of life lost (YLLs) were estimated by multiplying deaths by remaining standard life expectancy at age of death. Population attributable fractions (PAFs) for unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning deaths due to occupational injuries and high alcohol use were estimated. Findings In 2021, the global mortality rate due to unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning was 0·366 per 100 000 (95% uncertainty interval 0·276–0·415), with 28 900 deaths (21 700–32 800) and 1·18 million YLLs (0·886–1·35) across all ages. Nearly 70% of deaths occurred in males (20 100 [15 800–24 000]), and the 50–54-year age group had the largest number of deaths (2210 [1660–2590]). The highest mortality rate was in those aged 85 years or older with 1·96 deaths (1·38–2·32) per 100 000. Eastern Europe had the highest age-standardised mortality rate at 2·12 deaths (1·98–2·30) per 100 000. Globally, there was a 53·5% (46·2–63·7) decrease in the age-standardised mortality rate from 2000 to 2021, although this decline was not uniform across regions. The overall PAFs for occupational injuries and high alcohol use were 13·6% (11·9–16·0) and 3·5% (1·4–6·2), respectively. Interpretation Improvements in unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning mortality rates have been inconsistent across regions and over time since 2000. Given that unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning is almost entirely preventable, policy-level interventions that lower the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning events should be prioritised, such as those that increase access to improved heating and cooking devices, reduce carbon monoxide emissions from generators, and mandate use of carbon monoxide alarms.publishedVersio

Entamoeba lysyl-tRNA Synthetase Contains a Cytokine-Like Domain with Chemokine Activity towards Human Endothelial Cells

Immunological pressure encountered by protozoan parasites drives the selection of strategies to modulate or avoid the immune responses of their hosts. Here we show that the parasite Entamoeba histolytica has evolved a chemokine that mimics the sequence, structure, and function of the human cytokine HsEMAPII (Homo sapiens endothelial monocyte activating polypeptide II). This Entamoeba EMAPII-like polypeptide (EELP) is translated as a domain attached to two different aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aaRS) that are overexpressed when parasites are exposed to inflammatory signals. EELP is dispensable for the tRNA aminoacylation activity of the enzymes that harbor it, and it is cleaved from them by Entamoeba proteases to generate a standalone cytokine. Isolated EELP acts as a chemoattractant for human cells, but its cell specificity is different from that of HsEMAPII. We show that cell specificity differences between HsEMAPII and EELP can be swapped by site directed mutagenesis of only two residues in the cytokines' signal sequence. Thus, Entamoeba has evolved a functional mimic of an aaRS-associated human cytokine with modified cell specificity

Glucose Starvation Boosts Entamoeba histolytica Virulence

The unicellular parasite, Entamoeba histolytica, is exposed to numerous adverse conditions, such as nutrient deprivation, during its life cycle stages in the human host. In the present study, we examined whether the parasite virulence could be influenced by glucose starvation (GS). The migratory behaviour of the parasite and its capability to kill mammalian cells and to lyse erythrocytes is strongly enhanced following GS. In order to gain insights into the mechanism underlying the GS boosting effects on virulence, we analyzed differences in protein expression levels in control and glucose-starved trophozoites, by quantitative proteomic analysis. We observed that upstream regulatory element 3-binding protein (URE3-BP), a transcription factor that modulates E.histolytica virulence, and the lysine-rich protein 1 (KRiP1) which is induced during liver abscess development, are upregulated by GS. We also analyzed E. histolytica membrane fractions and noticed that the Gal/GalNAc lectin light subunit LgL1 is up-regulated by GS. Surprisingly, amoebapore A (Ap-A) and cysteine proteinase A5 (CP-A5), two important E. histolytica virulence factors, were strongly down-regulated by GS. While the boosting effect of GS on E. histolytica virulence was conserved in strains silenced for Ap-A and CP-A5, it was lost in LgL1 and in KRiP1 down-regulated strains. These data emphasize the unexpected role of GS in the modulation of E.histolytica virulence and the involvement of KRiP1 and Lgl1 in this phenomenon

Ongoing Talibanization of Karachi

For more about the East-West Center, see http://www.eastwestcenter.org/Alok Bansal, Executive Director of the South Asian Institute for Strategic Affairs in New Delhi, explains that “The window of opportunity for the Pakistani state to contain the growing influence of the TTP in Karachi is rapidly declining.